Jack let go of the breath he'd been holding at Tuukka's agreement. Okay, not screwed. Good.

"When I get the bear to stand, you must go for the stomach," Tuukka instructed the goblin. Then he let out a mighty roar toward the crowd, and dropped to all fours. Turning back to the bear, Jack watched the verrbjorn charge before following quietly with swift feet.

As he ran he sheathed his dagger and grabbed his sword firmly with both hands. He would do as instructed, and he prepared himself to leap between the the two great beasts and cut out the bears intestines with one or two swift cuts. But he would only dodge in and out to do so and should Tuukka's charge fail he intended to go around the bears back and cut at its hind legs. Jack hoped that the bear would be to busy with Tuukka to bother with him.

Tuukka charged the bear head-on, and the crowd roared as the two beasts met. The bear braced itself for impact and took it alarmingly well, though it reared up on its hind legs just as Tuukka had figured. The verrbjorn's impact, however, also snapped the chain around the bear's neck, freeing it from its post.

Jack darted in with his blade at the ready, trying to spill the bear's guts. The animal, however, was still on the defensive. Tuukka's blow had staggered it, but instead of retaliating, it pulled away and dropped onto all fours again, dodging back several paces. When the goblin came in for his pass, he nearly had his head swiped off by the angry bear.

Now the animal was loose and had managed to escape from Tuukka's powerful form. The bear moved quickly along the edges of the pit, grunting and letting out low, brief roars of confusion. It knew it didn't stand a chance, and it wasn't about to willfully meet the verrbjorn in a fight.

From what Tuukka and Jack could hear, the crowd was mostly jeering now, as if trying to make them chase down the beast and force it to fight, but the shouting was confusing. The bear looked like it just wanted a place to hide. Tuukka could tell it was only a young bear - in the prime of its life, to be such a size, but still young. He could hear it in its voice.

((Just a friendly reminder: I do plan to try and make some of the gladiator fights difficult, not only in combat, but in morality as well. I'm actually rather pleased with what's happening OOC in this one. But do what your characters would do - don't just think about 'winning the game.' It's still your choice, but... just saying.))

Jack swore loudly in Chaos when he barely managed to dodge a swipe from the bear that nearly severed his head. It hadn't remained locked in struggle with Tuukka and instead backed of before he could get close enough. The bear was much quicker than he preferred.

He regained his posture as the bear retreated to the edge of the arena before snorting. Of course they'd give me a sword for a bear fight. Not like they'd give me something sensible like a spear.

"Get its attention again and I'll swing around its back. I'm gonna try something stupid." Jack then sprinted away from Tuukka looking to close in on the bear from behind. He grabbed his dagger with his off hand and prepared himself to charge and leap at the bear as soon as it was distracted by Tuukka. He was gonna plunge his sword in its back and use it as something to hold onto while attacking with his dagger. He winced as he reviewed his plan in his head. This is stupid, but I need it in order to make that crowd like me. If nothing else, this stunt may save my life some day.

The bear was busy sniffing and nosing around in desperation for a way to get out of the arena, its frustration clearly rising. When Tuukka threatened it, the bear turned and roared, its fear apparently spent in favor of anger, its hunger driving it mad.

Bounding forward, the bear lunged at Tuukka and bit down on the verrbjorn's shoulder (-5 HP). Tuukka bit down on the bear's neck, but its thick fur mostly saved it from his huge teeth. Still, he could taste the bear's blood. All around them, the crowd shouted in excitement to watch the beast and the beastman wrestle.

While Tuukka grappled with the bear, Jack leapt up onto the bear's back, his sword sinking into the animal's body while he plunged his dagger into it repeatedly. The bear roared and tried to pull away from Tuukka, but the bear-man kept a grip on the animal in order to give Jack the opportunity to attack it. The crowd roared even louder, nearly deafening Tuukka.

The bear, however, suddenly jerked away with a great surge of strength. It staggered on all fours, roaring and grunting, trying to throw Jack off its back. The goblin managed to keep a grip, as deeply as his sword was lodged - but the animal suddenly reached behind it, its claws swiping and batting at him. Then, rearing up on its hind legs, the bear suddenly threw him off.

Jack landed hard in the sand (-1 HP), but he was mostly alright. The bear, however, was riddled with bleeding stab wounds and still had Jack's sword stuck in its back. The animal collapsed, breathing hard. Before it had the chance to rise, Tuukka tromped over. The bear was clearly suffering, and although it could still survive its wounds, it would have to be killed if Tuukka and Jack were to leave the arena alive. Now was their chance to give it a quick and merciful death.

---

Once the bear was defeated, Tuukka and Jack were returned to their cells, under heavy guard once again. The moment the doors to the cells were locked and everyone was back in their cages, however, someone else entered the gladiator cells.

A huge gate was opened behind one of the cells, a gate that led straight up into the gladiator arena. Through this gate stepped an enormous ogre, Grundo, with numerous men wielding huge pikes and crossbows forcing him inside. His cell was made of something other than iron - it could've been deepsilver, but they couldn't quite be sure. Whatever it was, Grundo couldn't break it.

Once the ogre was in his cage, the gate behind him fell shut again, leaving him in silence in the long, cell-lined hall where all the gladiators were caged.

Next, a man clad in a long, blue cape entered the room, walking down the hall outside the cells. He wore a suit of expensive plate armor, his face was young and handsome, and his yellow-blonde hair was sheared close to his head. On his armor was the symbol of a winged sword: the symbol of Valens, the owner of their gladiator school. This man, however, was not Valens himself, but another official of the gladiator school: a man they knew to be named Ludo. He was often more sympathetic towards the gladiators, unlike some of the other higher-ups in the School of Valens.

Shortly after he entered, several servants carrying the gladiators' meals entered as well to give them all food and water.

First, Ludo turned to Tuukka and Jack. "Congratulations on your victory. The crowd was very pleased. Your wounds will be tended to before the next fight." Tuukka and Jack couldn't help but notice they had more food than the others, most likely in reward for their actions.

Ludo, however, went on: "The games resume shortly. In the meantime, another monster has joined your ranks." He lifted an arm to gesture at hulking ogre in his cell. "Grundo is your new ally in the gladiator arena. We can never know how the game masters will arrange our teams, but some of you will be working with Grundo in the near future."

With that, Ludo abruptly turned and walked off. The servants departed as well, the heavy wooden door closing behind them, leaving the stone hall quiet once more. Everyone now had some food and water, the former of which was mostly just slop, even if it did have some meat in it. In its current state, the school couldn't afford the best food or armor. After all, it was their job to win glory for the school... once they did, they'd probably win better living conditions as well.

((Sorry about rushing the combat. That won't be the case in the future, if I can possibly avoid it. Vorgain, Balder, you guys can finish this fight however you like. Divide your posts into two parts - the first part for finishing up the bear fight, and then the second part for later, after you're returned to your cells and starting the character interaction. I'm just trying to move things along so that I can introduce the new ways of fighting.

I'm planning to try a new method of fights next time. The fights will take place at the same time in terms of gameplay, so that no one is left in the cells to interact (since that clearly didn't work out). However, the fights will be taking place at different times chronologically, as there is only one arena for fights to take place in.

For now, interact before your next fight(s). Right now, the group has positive crowd favor.))

Jack was thrown off the bear, landing hard. He scampered to get back to his feet, fearing an enraged bear charging him. Once he turned, though, he saw instead that the beast had collapsed and a grin crossed his face. He'd killed that bear. No, not yet, he corrected himself as he saw it panting for air. I'll cut its head of! He charged eagerly, the rush of blood and battle still invigorating him. But he slowed himself, realization striking, glancing Tuukkas way at the end of the charge and his grin dispersed. ​No, nothing so gruesome. He might take offence. Instead Jack leaped forward too the bears head, and with one swift motion cut its throat. The crowd cheered and he raised his blooded dagger in salute.

This ain't so bad. I could almost get used to it. Then he remembered that he still needed a way to escape and he admonished himself for getting caught in blood lust. Looking down he saw the claws of the late bear, quickly crouched down and took a dagger to its claw cutting it of and storing it in his mouth. He got up, pulled his sword from the beasts back and made his way to the gladiators gate, where the guards were waiting for them. If they notice the claw, I'll just tell them I wanted a souvenir from my first battle in the arena.

((So yeah I'm gonna wait for Wolfy to respond to this before I start interacting in the cells. Its kind of important for me to know if he succeeded to get the claw to his cell or not.))

Jack succeeded in hiding the bear claw. He was fast enough at cutting it off and concealing it that no one seemed to notice, though it did leave the bear's paw bloody and disfigured. For now, at least, no one noticed. Even when Jack was back in his cell, he still had the claw concealed in his mouth.

((Apologies for the shortness. Promise the DM posts for this group will improve in quality. :/))

Jack wanted to grin, as he often did, but he restrained himself seeing as he was surrounded by a contingent of guards. It would not do for them to see the bloody, and tasty, mess that was in his mouth right now. This also meant that things rather quickly got quiet, and though this made it easier for Jack not to smile it did not do him favors when it came to shutting up. When he'd been brought up to the arena he had filled the halls with his own chatter to fill out the sounds of walking. Now, however, he mustn't draw attention to himself, and it was driving him mad.

After what felt like ages, Jack and Tuukka finally arrived to their cells, and as soon as the guards left he spat out the bears claw in his hand and was about to speak up when he heard the massive gate from the other side of the hallway open up. Oh come on, Jack wanted to exclaim but instead he shoved the claw back into his mouth.

From that hallway though, came something very interesting. Escorted by a contingent of guards all armed with spears pointed in its direction came an enormous ogre. With bulging muscles and a stomach to match it, the guards forced it into one of the bigger cells. Jack was smiling. Not toothy grin, but a small satisfied smile. Oh yes, Jack thought. Yes that dumb thing will be easy to use as an distraction when I can break us out of here. Just send it of in a random direction and the dumb humans will be far to busy handling it to bother with me. Jack was pleased beyond measure that the ogre had joined them. This day just keeps getting better and better.

When the man Ludo came in together with what no doubt had been mistaken for food by these humans, Jack was incredibly relieved as Ludo began to talk, finally returning the sound of a voice to the environment. Jack didn't really listen to what he was saying, though he did pick up the ogres name. Grundo apparently.

Quickly enough Ludo left but before Jack could spit out his claw that insufferable noble whispered in Jacks direction. "Hey, you see that Ogre? Maybe He or She will help you escape if you can convince it to help you."

Jack was struck with the sheer stupidity of the imperials action. Not only had he completely missed Jack and Tuukka dividing themselves from the humans earlier, he also apparently thought that Jack hadn't thought about the ogre at all since it was marched in to join them. Further yet he also showed that he recalled the earlier conversations where the split happened. It was as if this Kendrik was choosing to be an idiot.

Jack turned to the human and spat out his bear claw into his hand before lacing his voice with as much venomous sarcasm as he could muster. "Why no, I hadn't thought about that at all. Thank you ever so much for giving me that idea. Whatever would I do without you, you sniveling human," he finished with a snort.

Turning to the ogres cell with a dismissive gesture Jack continued in a more sweet voice directed at Grundo. "Hey, big guy. Grundo was it? How you holding up." Better keep things simple for him. Wouldn't want his poor little brain to be overwhelmed.

Kendrick was a bit stunned by Jack's insult, but he then began to laugh.

"Little Goblin's got spunk," He chuckled, right before he pressed his face close to the bars of his cage and growled "Let's see what you think of me when I tear apart the next people I fight! They don't call me Kendrick Bludlust for nothing!"

After a pregnant pause from that sniveling worm of a human (not that humans were any better than worms besides their Superior flavor) before he began to laugh. Giving a small groan in in exasperation Jack glanced back to the idiot.

"Little Goblin's got spunk," He chuckled, right before he pressed his face close to the bars of his cage and growled "Let's see what you think of me when I tear apart the next people I fight! They don't call me Kendrick Bludlust for nothing!"

Jack couldn't believe it. The 'sir' had somehow managed to translate his jab at his intelligence to somehow relating to his fighting skill. Or maybe it was the other way around. Another snort escaped him. "Allow me to clarify. I never questioned your battle prowess. I questioned your intelligence. And every time you open that mouth of yours, more and more I'm convinced that there is a very empty place behind and above it. Now do yourself a favor and shut up." Jack then smiled as he added: "And besides, I'm fairly sure that they call you slave, not 'sir' or Kendrik Bludlust."

Tuukka watched as Jack slit the throat of the bear, and then walked over himself. He reached down, and grabbed the bear by the gash in the throat.

With a mighty heave of his arms, Tuukka ripped the bear's head off the body, and raised it high in the air. Then he let forth a roar, and threw the head into the crowd as high as he could. The droplets of blood hung in the air longer than seemed possible to Tuukka, as he watched the head arc into the stands.

"And besides, I'm fairly sure that they call you slave, not 'sir' or Kendrik Bludlust."

Tuukka let out a laugh that echoed throughout the cells. "I like you, goblin," he said. "And you are correct - this human cares more for glory and blood than he does escape. I hope my distraction allowed you to retrieve what you needed."

Then Tuukka walked to the corner of his cell and sat. He rolled the bitten shoulder, and wished for a bandage and some of the salve that the verrbjorn used to expedite the healing of wounds. But he knew at most he'd be given a dirty rag and perhaps some water to wash the wound with. And with that thought, he began to eat.

"I like you, goblin, and you are correct - this human cares more for glory and blood than he does escape. I hope my distraction allowed you to retrieve what you needed."

"You're godsd***ed right!" Kendrick said as he straightened and struck a dynamic pose "I'm as good as dead if I try to escape now, so I'm going to bide my time until I earn my freedom. If not, I will go from arena to arena, slaughtering all comers, until I become the Gladiator Champion of all Achaea!"

"Actually, I was betrayed by another nobleman, and ended up here," Kendrick said carelessly. "I got to kill that nobleman, though."

Gunther snorted, amused. “Caught in your own damned trap. Serves you right…” He growled, pacing around his small cell. Kendrick seemed to think he could get on good terms with any of the other slaves here, but Hrald would prove him wrong, alright.

The northman hoped he’d be pit up against Kendrick before he could be forced to fight with him.

Soon enough, Gunther was distracted from Kendrick by the arrival of Ludo and those servants who were in charge of feeding and watering the combat slaves. The barbarian viewed them with a certain level of contempt, for sure. They had been put through what he had at most, and they had allowed themselves to be broken. They had given in. They preferred to live on their knees than fight for their freedom. Such cowardice disgusted him.

He didn’t offer any thanks to the man who brought him food, just grabbing the stuff and slopping it down as an ogre was escorted in. Ludo introduced it as ‘Grundo’, and promptly left once the food had been dished out. As they left, Gunther noticed Kendrick look at his bowl and put it to one side, muttering something. He snorted, again.

“Better eat up, Imperial,” he said with a smirk. “‘Fore someone feeds you to the ogre.”

As the Imperial continued his stupidity - thankfully directing it toward the monstrous slaves - Gunther’s amusement quickly began to drain.

"You're gods-damned right!" Kendrick finally said as he straightened and struck a dynamic pose. "I'm as good as dead if I try to escape now, so I'm going to bide my time until I earn my freedom. If not, I will go from arena to arena, slaughtering all comers, until I become the Gladiator Champion of all Achaea!"

“You’ll be dead long before then…” Gunther muttered, sitting down in a corner of his cell. I’ll make sure of that.

------

Grundo was upset.

Fortunately for the guards herding him into the arena, he wasn’t quite angry. He was just homesick, hurt a lot, and he was tired of walking and getting called lot’s of mean names and getting shouted at. The huge ogre’s slow mind did its best to keep up with what was happening, but it was as if he’d been led out of his cave at spear-point just yesterday. If he’d been told how long it had really been, he wouldn’t have believed the speaker.

At any rate, he suddenly found himself stepping into a large cage, which slammed close behind him. Grundo halted, blinking slowly, before turning and trying to push the door back open. He tried a couple times, grunting with the effort as his bulging muscles struggled to force the thing open, but he was too tired to put his full strength and focus into the task. With a drawn out, baritone sigh, Grundo sad down with an audible thump.

He was faintly aware of some human coming in and saying things, and he mentioned Grundo’s name at some point. He didn’t get mad when Grundo didn’t react, though, so the ogre didn’t take any notice of what he was saying. He was trying to get used to that, after living almost his whole life without hearing anyone else speak languages he could understand at all. However, as that human - and the other ones carrying food and stuff - left, Grundo finally tuned into the conversation between the other people in cages around him.

"Hey, big guy. Grundo was it? How you holding up?" A small green man was saying nearby. He seemed nice, even if Grundo could easily crush him by accident, so the ogre mentally categorized him with the bunnies he’d sometimes found. Grundo liked categorizing things, even if he never quite remembered the categories he made.

“Grundo... not holding anything.” The ogre rumbled, sounding puzzled as he tilted his head slightly. It was rather obvious what confused him. “Grundo could hold things. Lots of things.” He grinned lifting up his food, easily. “See-?”

The little green man didn’t see, actually. He was busy shouting at one of the other humans who had been making growling noises at him. The human seemed an awful lot like most humans that Grundo had met… in fact, as another human began growling at him, Grundo began to see that all humans were pretty much the same.

It made him feel kind of sad, actually. It must not be nice being the same. He decided mentally, after a few concentrated moments of thought.

Soon enough, though, a bearman who was noticeably smaller than Grundo began to speak in simple enough terms that the ogre could keep up with his growling speech. "I like you, goblin," he said. "And you are correct - this human cares more for glory and blood than he does escape. I hope my distraction allowed you to retrieve what you needed."

Grundo’s brow furrowed as he translated a few of the bigger words with slow deliberation, and still probably got them wrong. “Grundo don’t understand.” He finally rumbled. “What… you need, gub-lin?” He asked, after a further moment of thought, looking down at the little green man.

He was aware of more shouting and growling even as he spoke like so, but it was all too loud or quiet or complicated for the ogre to really understand what was being said, exactly.

While Jack was distracted by the insufferable Sir Idiot, Grundo answered his question. Or rather, tried. “Grundo... not holding anything.” The ogre rumbled, sounding puzzled as he tilted his head slightly. It was rather obvious what confused him. “Grundo could hold things. Lots of things.” He grinned lifting up his food, easily. “See-?” Jack turned back and saw the ogre holding its bowl of goop in a demonstrative fashion and Jack found himself in the peculiar position of realizing that the words that he had considered simple and very clear to understand had been completely misunderstood. This was not the same as with Sir Idiot who had misunderstood a verbal jab of sarcasm. Sarcasm was after all a rather complicated form of communication, its only natural for lesser species such as humans to misunderstand.

Oh, he's even simpler than I thought. He winced as he came to a realization. He was gonna have to speak even simpler and the very thought hurt. Jack loved to speak complicated sentences and show off with his words. And he had to abstain from this pleasure completely when speaking to the ogre.

Meanwhile Tuukka had congratulated Jack on his insults at Sir Idiot and asked If he'd retrieved what he needed. Jack looked down at the bear claw in his hand and examined it. He'd cut it loose with the rest of the toe and he figured that with enough work he could fashion it into a leverage for a lock pick. "Yes, Tuukka. I think I did." Jack answered with his trademark grin.

Grundo, however, was apparently paying attention. “Grundo don’t understand.” He rumbled. “What… you need, gub-lin?” He asked, after a further moment of thought, looking down at Jack.

"Oh, yes um..." Jack stumbled with his words, he was not used to speaking simply or slowly. But he did his best for the ogres ears. "I need... stuff. Like sharp thing, hard things, small things and thin things. Oh, and, um... small shiny thin-long things I need... most. Most need." He meant keys but he were fairly sure that Grundo didn't know what a key was. Jack then realized that the ogre might think that he needed food and quickly bent down to pick up his goop bowl. "I don't need food. I have food." He finished, smiling his friendliest grin at the ogre.

"Oh, yes um..." The gub-lin stumbled with his words, as if he couldn’t find the right ones. Huh, he seemed pretty smart to Grundo. He could speak two languages, after all! "I need... stuff. Like sharp thing, hard things, small things and thin things. Oh, and, um... small shiny thin-long things I need... most. Most need." He quickly bent down to pick up his goop bowl. "I don't need food. I have food." He finished, smiling in a very friendly way at the huge ogre.

Grundo scratched his head, his brow furrowing again as he thought. Sharp things… like the pointy stuff humans used to make him move places? He didn’t know how to get those without leaving the cage, and he was too tired to do that. Hard things were different, though. Grundo bet his bowl was pretty hard, even though it was small. The gub-lin wouldn’t be able to break it too easily. And it was small and a little thin! The ogre grinned as he quickly slurped up his food, which produced a chorus of sound that could make a troll with a stomach of iron lose its appetite, and then made sure the bowl was pretty clean before approaching the gub-lin.

“Grundo have hard, thin, small thing.” He grinned, offering the bowl. “Gub-lin like?” The ogre asked, tilting his head slightly and awaiting the nice little man’s approval. Or lack thereof, as it were.

Jack wanted to face palm. In fact, he soon found that his hand were indeed planted, quite firmly, to his face. The ogre, of course, had completely different definitions of what constituted a small object and as such considered the bowl to be small. While it was indeed very small to Grundo's massive stature, to Jack it was actually of decent size, nothing he would ever call small. Slowly dragging his hand of his face and suppressing a groan, Jack mustered a strained smile to Grundo. "Ah, thanks, but I already got one. You can keep that one."

Sitting down, Jack figured that he might as well eat. Bringing the bowl to his mouth, he sniffed it first and it actually didn't smell as bad as expected. Shrugging slightly, he put it to his lips and started eating, while his eyes examined his cell, giving extra attention to the gate, the keyhole and door hinges in particular.